MANTECA — High school students always enjoy a break in the daily routine, whether it’s an assembly, holiday or field trip. On Tuesday, Sept. 22, English honors students at East Union High School were treated to a best-selling visitor.

Robert Dugoni, a New York Times best-selling author, spoke to three classes taught by Carol Clark and Kim F. Bell on the second day of a three-day tour that included an appearance on the TV show “Good Day Sacramento,” a presentation at University of the Pacific in Stockton and book-signing sessions at Barnes & Noble stores in Tracy and Stockton.

Dugoni attended Serra High School in San Mateo and now lives in Seattle. He has family members in the San Joaquin Valley and was accompanied on the tour by a first cousin, Jim Dugoni, a resident of Modesto and director of the Pacific Fund at UOP.

Robert Dugoni told the group of seniors and freshmen that he knew as a seventh-grader he wanted to be a writer. Given an assignment to write from the voice of a slave, slave owner or abolitionist, Dugoni chose the abolitionist.

Nobody in his class applauded when his speech ended, but not because they didn’t like it. His teacher, so moved by his speech, led him to the principal’s office, where he was directed to deliver the speech once more — this time at a school assembly.

“I remember thinking, ‘This is really cool. This is what I want to do,’” he said to the students. “I wanted to be able to move people with my words. That was my moment.”

Only Dugoni’s career took a different path, working for 14 years as a lawyer after he majored in communications-journalism and creative writing at Stanford University, attended law school at the University of California, Los Angeles, and worked at the Los Angeles Times.

He had an “epiphany” while in his 30s and returned to his passion: writing.

“I thought, ‘What happened to that kid? What happened to those dreams?’” Dugoni said. “This was not what was going to make me happy.”

He’s now an author of thrillers. His latest novel is “Wrongful Death,” the story of a lawyer who takes on the U.S. government and military on behalf of a woman whose husband was killed in Iraq.

Dugoni’s books have drawn comparisons to John Grisham and David Baldacci, but he said between classes that talking to high school students is much more frightening than sitting at a typewriter and trying to start writing a book.

“You have to feel a class. You have to feel the students,” he said. “You can’t be offended by the kids who don’t appear to be taking in what you’re telling them, because you never know which kid really is taking it in. You have to focus on your message. If you reach one kid, it’s been worth it.”

Dugoni appeared to reach several at East Union. One boy referred to Dugoni as his idol and asked if he would sign autographs afterward.

Many asked questions.

And they didn’t flinch when he said he read such classics as “Of Mice and Men,” “The Count of Monte Cristo,” “Lord of the Flies,” Moby Dick,” “The Old Man and the Sea” and more as a youth. But they gasped when he said he hadn’t read “Twilight.”

His message for becoming a better writer: Read, read and read some more.

“If you said, ‘I’m bored,’ my mom would hand you a book. She was a teacher,” Dugoni said. “I thought I was reading cool books. I was reading about a guy out there trying to catch this huge fish.

“Just read. Read as much as you can. It’s going to make your imagination that much more active. It’s also going to make you a better writer. If you want to learn how to write well, read, and read a lot.”

• Contact Editor Bill Poindexter at 239-6351, ext. 309, or bill@sunpost.net.